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Tuesday, April 28, 2015

When kids can't/don't read the test

The past two days we have been taking a vocabulary test.  Within grading the first five or six, I quickly realized, once again, that no one studied.  At all.  I gave the kids practice, reviews, we went over the words the day before and the day of the test, all of the words are on quizlet so they can study on their own, I had tutorials where I will go over the test with you... and these are some of the answers I had.  This is supposed to be a recipe for spaghetti sauce.  Italicized words are their answers from a word bank.  I don't recommend following these recipes, as you will not end up with tomato sauce for spaghetti, but probably a big mess and a grease fire.

Sample 1
How do you make a you forget for spaghetti?
It is simple with this sauce.

Ingredients; meat, tomatoes, oil, garlic, salt.

1. First, you must chop the meat so you don't have to peel big of meat in the sauce.
2. Then, you should put the tomatoes in a pot of hot water to add them and then to fry  them.
3. After that, you have to recipe oil in a to taste.
4. When the oil is hot, you are going to heat a little bit of garlic.
5. Then you are going to fry the meat and then mix the tomatoes with the fried meat.
6. In order not to burn the sauce, you should cook it on a small fugo.
7. Don't to boil to add a little bit of salt.  You should pieces what you prepare so you can see if it needs more salt.

Sample 2
How do you make a to heat for spaghetti?
It is simple with this to boil.

1. First you must recipe the meat so you don't have to mix big of the meat in the sauce.
2. Then, you should put the tomatoes in a sauce of hot water to fry them and then pieces them.
3. After that, you have to boil oil in a recipe.
4. When the oil is hot, you are going to you forget a little bit of garlic.
5. Then you are going to add the meat and then to try the tomatoes with the fried meat.
6. In order not to burn the sauce, you should cook it on a low flame.
7. Don't to peel to add a little bit of salt.  You should chop what you prepare so you can see if it needs more salt.


Does grading papers ever make you feel like a failure as a teacher?  I used to really get down about it, until one test, I made the review identical to the test, I had a whole day of review games, plus the review itself, I gave the abbreviated/accommodated version of the test, walked them through each section, gave them "helper" words to figure out what sentences meant, walked around asking if kids needed help, forced kids to take help even when they didn't want it, and allowed corrections... and kids still failed with flying colors.

At some point, you just have to know you did everything you could.  And some kids, no matter how much you care, don't care at all.  No matter how much you want to, you can't study for them, you can't fill in their answers for them... well, you can, sometimes that doesn't even help.  Like they say, "you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it study for the test." Or something like that...

Bless those teachers who are "tested subjects".  Just one more reason I don't teach core classes.

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